The Weekly News Update is a weekly roundup of business news from around the Asia-Pacific region, covering Fusion Consulting's core industry practices: chemicals, consumer & retail, financial services, industrial & logistics, information & communication technology, life science and media & leisure. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.     Click here to request our free whitepaper on the Development of Telematics in  Asia and its impact on the automotive industry and other sectors including telecom,  media and logistics. Information & communication technology

World - More semiconductors sold, but for less money Source: Portland Business Journal, 31 March 2008 Sales of semiconductor products worldwide increased 11.6% in February 2008 compared to the same time last year, but the value of the sales only increased 1.5%, as prices continue falling in the US$274 billion market. The huge difference between increases in volume and sales can be attributed to falling prices of dynamic random access memory chips. Average selling prices for the chips declined nearly 60% for the year. Another trend is the fast growth of electronics in regions other than the United States. The Asia-Pacific region is now the biggest computer market. Asia is also expected to sell 540 million cell phones in 2008, more than triple the 162 million units expected to be sold in the United States. China - Software revenue up 28.7% in Jan-Feb 2008 Source: Xinhua, 29 March 2008 China's domestic software industry netted a total RMB92.3 billion (US$13.2 billion) of business revenue in the first two months of 2008, an increase of 28.7% over the same period in 2007. The growth rate was 7.1 percentage points higher compared with the same period last year. Profitability, however, dropped 4.6% period-on-period to RMB6.9 billion (US$984 million). Software products revenue increased 25.5% to RMB33.2 billion (US$4.7 billion), while income from software and technology services grew 38.3% to RMB16 billion (US$2.3 billion). Revenues from integrated circuit design were RMB3 billion (US$428 million), an increase of 22.2% from the prior year period. Thailand - Software industry plans to move into Laos Source: Thai News Service, 31 March 2008 The Association of Thai Software Industry (ATSI) is working to enter the Laos market with a set of software products developed by local software companies. The initial targets will include the education, government, business and manufacturing sectors. ATSI estimates that the Laos software market could be worth Bt5 billion (US$160 million) a year. Laos will be the first country that ATSI will target as part of taking software to the global market. If the model succeeds, the association plans to expand to other countries such as China, Vietnam and Bhutan.   View an example of our experience in this industry. Back to list of articles.  Visit our website to sign up for free intelligence on Asian markets.

This Weekly News Update is a free newsletter, providing a round-up of the week's Asia-Pacific news from our core industry practices. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.

Fusion Consulting is a business intelligence consultancy providing clear strategic advice on Asia-Pacific markets. With offices in Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong and 400 industry consultants in 16 countries, we conduct custom research and consulting to help companies understand their markets, compete more effectively and grow into new areas of opportunity. Email more@fusionc.com or visit www.fusionc.com for more information.